welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. a german newspaper says u.s. president barack obama knew american agents were tapping chancellor angela merkel's mobile phone, something he denies. state-run media in china says a car that ran into pedestrians in beijing's tiananmen square killed five

people, two of them tourists. one of japan's biggest banks is punishing top executives for knowingly loaning money to criminal organizations. u.s. president barack obama is facing more questions about what he knew and when regarding the activities of his intelligence agents. a german newspaper says obama found out three years ago that the national security agency was tapping chancellor angela merkel's mobile phone. that contradicts reports he told her he was unaware. nhk world's noriko okada has more. >> reporter: the german newspaper is the latest media source to publish details of how the u.s. spied on german chancellor angela merkel. it spoke to a u.s. intelligence worker involved in the operation. it says that person revealed the head of the national security agency informed the president obama in person about the

surveillance in 2010. the paper quoted the source as saying obama did not stop the operation. nearly a week ago, german government officials said u.s. intelligence agency may have monitored merkel's mobile phone. she called the president to demand an explanation. >> translator: i told him that tapping is a clear violation of law. >> reporter: president obama has been denying he knew about the operation. his press secretary is appealing for calm. >> the president assured the chancellor that the united states is not monitoring, and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor. >> reporter: but it did in the past. german weekly magazine "der spiegel" reported the u.s. likely monitored merkel's mobile phone for more than a decade,

from 2002 to around june this year. back in 2002, merkel was an opposition leader. french newspaper "lemonde" says american agents also tapped the phone of politicians, business leaders and citizens. european leaders expressed anger over the eavesdropping allegations of their recent summit. u.s. citizens are also concerned about the spying. over the weekend, nearly 1,000 people joined a march up to capitol hill in washington. >> it's too much. it can't be good for our relationship with other countries. >> government needs to be accountable. they need to follow the laws. >> reporter: german officials plan to visit washington to seek

a detailed explanation. it's clear u.s. leaders will need to continue doing damage control to repair relations with their long-time allies. noriko okada, nhk world. a u.s. newspaper is reporting that the spying on chancellor merkel and other world leaders stopped after the obama administration launched an investigation. "the wall street journal" quoted a senior u.s. official as saying the nsa made the surveillance decisions. the newspaper says the official account of what happened suggests president obama went nearly five years without knowing about the spying on world leaders. it reports obama was briefed on broader intelligence collection priorities, but didn't make decisions on specific targets. and it says the president only learned of the spying after his administration launched internal and external probes of national security agency operations a few months ago. the decision followed revelations by former nsa

contractor, edward snowden, who said agents had been secretly gathering the phone and internet data of private citizens. u.s. officials tell "the wall street journal" that american agents have suspended spying on merkel and other world loaders, but they say the agency is still monitoring other leaders because some of the programs are producing useful intelligence. smoke in tiananmen square after a car burst into flames. chinese authorities are staying tight-lipped about the deadly incident. here's more. >> reporter: a car on fire, smoke in the air. these photos show the aftermath of the monday afternoon incident in tiananmen square. i'm now passing the beijing tiananmen square. the authorities are working in this area.

there is no one except for armed police in the square. the crash occurred on the north side of the square close to the entrance to the forbidden city. the spot is home to a giant portrait of mao tse tung. the news agency said a sports utility vehicle traveled a few hundred meters, then smashed into a low barrier. three people inside the suv died. two tourists have also died. several others were injured. posts show the aftermath of the crash. then a short time later, the pictures were changed. authorities are believed to be behind the notification. some users are asking if it was intentional or even an act of terrorism.

government officials are staying quiet. >> today, near tiananmen square, there was an incident that led to some kind of fire and the evacuation of the square. i'm wondering if there's any evidence if this was at all a terrorist incident carried out by foreign or domestic groups. >> translator: we don't have the details. >> reporter: public discontent has grown in recent years. some analysts are wondering whether the incident is linked to an important communist party meeting scheduled for next month. nhk world, beijing. a former georgian vice premier has declared victory. he pledged during his campaign to improve relations with russia.

georgia's voted on sunday to elect a successor to the president who served the term -- or maximum two terms. exit pollsly a local tv network showed him ahead by nearly 67% of the vote. he thanked supporters on monday, even though the election committee had yet to announce the final results. he's close to the prime minister, a billionaire who has been working to mend ties with russia. public outcry has been increasing against the anti-russia and pro western policies, saying it led to a brief war in 2008 and a fierce rivalry with russia. observers say he will likely have much less power than his predecessor as constitutional changes will shift some authority from the president to the prime minister. they say the public expects his victory to end georgia's policies against russia.

a panel of lawyers says japan's mizuho bank didn't realize the importance of cutting its ties with criminal organizations. external lawyers have announced the results of their investigation into mizuho's lending scandal. bank officials have failed to cancel loans to gangsters for more than two years, even after they discovered the identity of the borrowers. the lawyers noted that mizu officials didn't know they were lending to criminals. the lawyers noted a remanagement reshuffle kept the information from reaching new officials. the lawyers also referred to a false report mizuho had submitted to financial authorities. it says top executives didn't receive information about the loans. the lawyers said it was not an intentional cover-up, but criticized them for not giving

proper attention to questions from government regulators. they express regrets that the problem occurred at a bank that it said should have been spearheading efforts to sever ties with criminal groups. meanwhile, mizuho bank has announced penalties for its executives in connection with the scandal. the bank president told a news conference that the chairman will step down. he will remain chairman of the bank company mizuho financial group, but his pay will be suspended for six months. sato said he will receive a pay suspension for the same period. more than 40 other executives will face penalties including pay cuts. he also explained new measures mizu plans to take in other cases. he said the bank will appoint outside board members in december. the step is aimed at improving

transparency and monitoring functions. only the holding company has external board members. the bank plans to set up an inside panel that will keep an eye on transactions with organized crime groups. >> translator: we will implement the plan we've just announced to improve our business practices. the mizuho group will go all out to eliminate connections with gangsters. negotiators from countries in the transpacific partnership free trade talks have ended a five-day working meeting group in tokyo. they failed to narrow their differences over intellectual property rights. the officials of the five countries discussed copyrights and other issues during the meeting. the united states insisted on a long period for the protection of patents on medicine. emerging nations were against the idea.

they said a long protection period would restrict their access to new technologies. >> translator: we haven't been able to reach an agreement this time around. but we will try to step up discussions so we can work out an accord by the end of the year. >> the japanese representatives chaired the meeting. they said the negotiators will continue the talks next month. domestic auto production in japan rose in september for the first time in months. eight major manufacturers say they produced about 827,000 vehicles last month, up 13% from a year earlier. they attribute the rise to brisk domestic sales to more fuel-efficient models of vehicles. sales in the united states and other markets were also strong. mitsubishi motors surged 58.5%. mazda showed a gain of over 37%.

and honda and toyota around 11%. domestic production had been falling since september of last year. carmakers plan to roll out more new models by year end. a major japanese communications company is expanding deeper into overseas markets. ntt communications says it will buy two u.s. firms for about $870 million. the company says one other firm is vertella technology services in colorado. it provides networking services to corporate clients. the other is california based raging wire. this company operates data centers for storing and processing large amounts of data. ntt communications said they will acquire the stocks of the two firms by january. the president explains that his company wants to expand

aggressively overseas because of the shrinking domestic market. here are the latest market figures. managers of japan's damaged nuclear plant seem to be making progress in getting their system to decontaminate radioactive water fully operational. they started up another part of the advanced liquid processing system, or alps.

engineers with tokyo electric power company, or tepco, began testing one of three operational lines for alps. the system can remove 62 kinds of radioactive substances, excluding kitchum. the engineers suspended the line in june after unprocessed radioactive water leaked out of a stainless steel tank. they discovered salt and chemicals had been eroding these tanks leaving small holes. the engineers began a trial run of another alps operational line about a month ago. they plan to test the remaining one in mid-november. plant managers had wanted the system to be fully running by last month. but the repeated malfunctions and suspensions have forced them to change that next to next year. they want to build three more operational lines for alps in 2014, and use government aid to set up a facility capable of decontaminating more radioactive

water. tepco plans to finish cleaning up all of its stored wastewater by march 2015. about 440,000 tons of radioactive water is being stored at fukushima daiichi. the president of tepco has been facing tough questions about how the utility is dealing with the nuclear crisis. he met with the chairman of the nuclear regulation authority tanaka. tanaka asked hiro how they plan to prevent more problems at the fukushima daiichi following a series of radioactive water leaks. the president said he intends to send more workers to the crippled facility, including those now at another idle nuclear plant. he also said tepco plans to support the workers to ensure they can make full use of their skills. tanaka asked hiro to improve working conditions inside the fukushima plant, including for those who are dealing with the decontamination process. he reportedly said he wants the utility to carry out drastic long-term reforms.

lawmakers in japan are examining bills that would change how state secrets are protected and shared with allies. prime minister shinzo abe is pushing to create a national security council. he said it's necessary because the security environment in asia is getting more severe. lawmakers on a parliamentary committee are taking a closer look at the bill. the prime minister wants to build a body that's similar to the u.s. national security council. he would chair meetings and his foreign and defense ministers would take part, along with the chief cabinet secretary. the national security office would be created within the cabinet secretariat at the same time. the chief cabinet secretary spoke during the meeting. he urged lawmakers to get the bill enacted as soon as possible. >> translator: the security environment surrounding japan is increasingly unstable. regular forums involving the

prime minister discussing the security issues are vital. this will allow the prime minister to take strong leadership in the field of national security. >> suga said the head of the national security office would be in charge of the administrative affairs. the national security council would advise the prime minister directly. he added, the posts could be filled by individuals from the public or private sector. clashes during the general strike under way in bangladesh have caused at least five more deaths. rosalyn in bangkok is following the story. the three-day strike led by the largest opposition bangladesh nationalist party. another five people were killed bringing the death toll since sunday to at least ten. opposition party members are taking part in the strike demanding a nonpartisan caretaker government be put in place before elections due to

take place by january. the government opposition supporters took to the streets of the capital on monday. the opposition is demanding the administration of the prime minister be replaced. it says the current constitution does not allow for a neutral caretaker government. >> because of the fact that in this country, the political parties don't trust each other. we had the system, and unfortunately in this government, they've brought in the parties and government during election time. so this demand is mainly for a nonpartisanship election government. >> the ruling party shows no sign of backing down, and says the election will take place according to the constitution. >> translator: the prime minister has clearly stated that the elections will take place in accordance with the constitution.

the opposition leader's demand is unconstitutional. what she says runs counter to the constitution, and the people of bangladesh will never accept that. the election will take place in time, and according to the constitution. and we welcome the participation of all parties. >> the first day of the strike on sunday was marred by violence. opposition activists clashed with security forces and government supporters. they set fire to cars, and threw handmade explosives. the strike has paralyzed state activity across the country. the opposition says it will continue through tuesday. a deadly series of explosions in india over the weekend has raised concerns about a possible uptick in political violence. as the country prepares for a g general election before may next year. six people were killed and at

least 82 wounded. the six explosives were thought to be homemade bombs. they went off in petna in the eastern state while tens of thousands of supporters of the bjp were gathering for a political rally. police have detained four people. >> translator: their aim was to spark fear and create a stampede at the site of the rally. >> the chief minister was attending the rally. mordi is the bjp's candidate for prime minister in the coming election, and is gaining international attention. he's received credit for growing the economy with aggressive programs to improve infrastructure, learn new investment, and cut india's notorious red tape. but he's also known as a hard line hindu nationalist and was criticized for failing to

prevent the mass murder of muslims during riots in 2002. voters in the philippines have been casting their ballots in village elections marred by bloodshed. police say 22 people were killed in violence in the run-up to elections to choose the leaders of the country's smallest administrative division. the vote went ahead on monday amid tight security. a total of 800,000 candidates were contesting 336,000 posts, including chairmanships and counsellor seats. the elections are often marked by violence stemming from political rivalries. afp news agency said half the 22 people killed this time were incumbent candidates seeking reelection. it refers to the name to the community unit that existed before spain colonized the philippines. political parties use them to

compete for grass roots support. observers say they symbolize not only the nation's democratic dynamism, but endemic political corruption. that wraps up our bulletin from bangkok. there's a big storm in europe, and rachel ferguson from the weather team has been watching the situation for us. rachel, what's the latest? >> all right. this intense storm has been battering the british isles and is now moving into mainland europe as well. we're talking about winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, up to 120 in parts of germany and low countries. there have been power outages. flood warnings as well across the uk. and certainly, travel has been very severely impacted as well, with planes grounded and trains stopped, too. we have some footage to show you what is going on on the ground. and the storms have been battering the uk, but also on

the other side of the channel, we were seeing some severe travel disruptions. about 65,000 homes lost power in france, and all ferry services across the channel were suspended today. numerous flights also delayed and canceled out of paris. so there is plenty going on. this storm is still packing a punch. it's going to be, you know, keeping the strength up until tuesday, when it will start to wind down again. you'll get a brief break in the weather on wednesday. and then the next transatlantic storm will roll in. if you're down to the south or southeast of europe, conditions not too bad at all. 27 in athens. 26 in rome. staying dry. okay down in lisbon as well there. elsewhere, looking pretty wet, with temperatures in the mid-teens. all right. on into eastern asia we go. it's a quiet picture here the beginning of the work week. we haven't seen that for a while. high pressure is in charge of much of the north here. of you will see showers

developing across portions of the korean peninsula as well as japan. but it's not going to be anything too heavy. you will notice there is another tropical system here. it's a depression right now. but it is expected to strengthen and become the next named system. it's heading towards the philippines right now. we'll keep an eye on that one for you. showers down towards the south of china, will be turning over to snow in eastern tibet. shanghai in the mid-20s there. as pel well as taipei. let's take a look finally into the americas, where there is a storm brewing, which will be affecting quite a few of you, with snow all the way from california up in towards the intermountain west. we've got montana, wyoming, even in towards western portions of the dakotas, you could be seeing some heavy snow. in the purple is where you'll be seeing up to about 20 centimeters.

that's where the heaviest stuff will be. in the desert southwest, maybe we're not going to be seeing the precipitation. some strong winds could be throwing dust and sand around. that could also be an issue. we'll see thunderstorms coming down towards the south and into the lower mississippi valley. you've got the storms already in oklahoma city on your monday. ahead of that front coming through, you can see some fog. or you'll see some fog is probably not the right expression to use. visibility could be impaired up to about 500 meters. so you need to be very careful with that, certainly in travel conditions. here are your highs. 7 degrees in denver. minus 3 in winnipeg. 9 degrees toronto. take a look at the lows. you'll see frost out on the ground in places like toronto. chicago 4 degrees. 0 for you in denver. things are starting to cool down now. i'll leave you with your extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk

world, thanks for joining us. have a great day wherever you are.

in this episode of tomorrow, a french journalist gathers the information on post disaster japan. david is a science journalist and director who appears on many scientific tv programs in france. with a doctorate in molecular and cellular biology he's a comment tater. immediately after the 3/11 earthquake he began visiting regula currently, he has a strong